Video shot by an AP Television News crew Thursday night showed three of four North Korean players reported to have gone missing in South Africa sitting on the team bus. The players – Pak Sung-hyok, An Chol-hyok and Kim Kyong-il – were all headed to a training session. The fourth player in question is goalkeeper Kim Myong-won. FIFA, football's world governing body, reacted Friday to media reports that the four players had gone missing by saying that North Korea had taken them off the squad list because they weren't expected to compete. Normally, teams supply the names of a 23-man squad before a match. North Korea only handed in 19 names for the match Tuesday against Brazil. The official teamsheet for the North Koreans against Brazil listed the four players as “absent”. An official at the South Korean embassy in Johannesburg said it had not picked up any out-of-the-ordinary movements regarding the North Korean squad. Media access to the players from one of the world's most reclusive nations has been extremely restricted since they arrived in South Africa to contest their first World Cup in 44 years. Beckenbauer slams French France's performance against Mexico was not worthy of a World Cup Finals claimed German football legend Franz Beckenbauer Friday. The 64-year-old – who has already provoked the ire of England coach Fabio Capello and his players for remarks earlier this week – said that the French had simply waved the white flag of surrender during Thursday's defeat which leaves them on the verge of going home early. “The French are for the moment the biggest disappointment of the World Cup,” said Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup both as a player and as a coach. “The manner in which they played (against Mexico), is unworthy of a World Cup, it looked more like they were playing in a warm-up match.” Beckenbauer said that the French had looked more like a rabble than a team. “What really shocked me, is the manner that they accepted the defeat, nobody showed any fire in fighting back. One felt that they really weren't a team,” he added.
